This invention relates to locking devices for outboard motors, and more specifically to locking devices to prevent the theft of the motor by preventing the loosening of the clamping screws which secure the motor to the transom board of a boat or a motor stand used in sales and/or servicing of motors.
Numerous devices have been proposed in the past to inhibit or curb the theft of outboard motors attached to and used in connection with private boats. For instance, Foote, U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,738 provides a relatively thin-walled housing which is greater in length than the distance between the two clamping screws, and slid endwise onto the screw heads. A padlock is then provided to prevent the housing from being slid off the screw heads.
Similarly, Wiggins, U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,809, discloses a particular adaptation of the thin-walled housing of Foote, specially designed for those motors that have substantially rounded heads or knobs with notches or recesses formed in those knobs. Wiggins provides special stops shaped to mate with the recesses of those knobs.
This invention relates to improvements to the apparatus described above, and to solutions to some of the problems raised or not solved thereby.